Photograph: Oskar Proctor

1.
Using gloves, a knife is breathed on and laid.
An ingredient is brushed, Red.
Hum.

Hot, check

As, emerging from subterranea, vision flickers, it adjusts. A hand moves over, a greasy humming escalator banister, mirroring the constant checking of the underside of a table, the edge of the plate. It seems grubby, dusty at least, give it another wipe.

Rituals of a journey seem to exact their will, like autopilot, mechanised and cold. There are systems, there are five intersections. An endless cycle, the spills of electric noise mingle with sound of the pan resting on the side. Very little resting time.

3.
A spoon is placed, perpendicular.
Head resting on a small wooden pillow.
An ingredient is tossed, Green.
Hum.

Sweet, check

The back patting, shoulder rubbing din. It rings in the ears, as does the city itself, the shouts from the kitchen. Leaning in further, brushing a stiff shirt, the sound not too dissimilar to that of the hum of machina. Always wondered how this place functions. Glasses are held up as the linoleum is wiped, set down elsewhere. Nuts, nuts that you’ll break your teeth on.

4.
With a precision turn, the napkin is folded.
An ingredient is poured, Yellow
Hum.
Bitter, Check

There is something of this server, as he curtails, as he careers towards me, it reminds me of an experience abroad, some European eatery, lack lustre pomp and regalia. The movement is peculiar in its regularity, farcical maybe, present but distant, never making eye contact. My, does he speak fast. A return to the pass, the silver bell, bashed repeatedly, laid on top of the pass. Stolen glimpses into the kitchen of shelving and mise en place and steam. We all know what is happening, the big reveal, the grand depart, the cloche removed.

5.
A wine glass accidentally bumps against its dry counterpart, before being set, clink.
Its red lipsticked edge noticeable.
A lip is bitten and an ingredient is scattered, Black.
Hum.
Salty, Check

So flippant and repetitive this pilgrimage is. Ouroboros comes to mind; its sibilance is interwoven into the very fabric. Back, forth, back, forth, this doesn’t feel like the right spot. We should go elsewhere, al fresco, should have created our own picnic. The rigmaroles always seem to feel the same; everyone is always a critic. Nothing touches as real in here, allusional and delusional. A veneer, defunct, inedible yet flavourful. There is something alchemic astir.

Someone walks over,
“sorry, the next available table is in 45,
would you like to put down.”
Hmm.

No, Check

UNDER THE CLOCHE, Or You Always Catch Me Napkin

A collaboration with George Little
Bosse And Baum Gallery, Peckham, London.
April 10th to May 10th, 2015

Burger Box

Photograph: Dominic Tschudin

An approach I term remaking the ready-made is a regular concern within my art practice. Rather than choosing to use the original ready-made object, the choice to remake enables the removal of any unproductive associations or symbolic qualities the ready-made equivalents may have and allows for the addition of others through formal and material transformative decisions and through juxtaposition. It relies on the very specific set of cultural references and symbolic qualities imbued in the original object; the ready-made associations rather than the ready-made object (in the Duchampian sense).

This work directly engages the topic as its subject matter and highlights three different ways of remaking an object. The hand-painted, cast, plaster monkey nuts are the closest to exact replicas and thus, in themselves, are the most fake. The materiality of the black rubber lemon becomes the essential component in the transformation from the original; a response to the everyday that is somehow materially shifted. The alabaster rock transforms into an art object, without any material shift, through its position displayed in the gallery and with the intent of the artist.